Neisseria meningitidis in specimens from urogenital sites. Is increased awareness necessary?

Neisseria meningitidis serogroups B type 2 and Y were isolated from urogenital specimens from three heterosexual patients. The first patient was a young man with the clinical signs and microscopic findings of a typical gonococcal urethritis. The second was a middle-aged woman with cervicitis, in whom neither Neisseria gonorrhoeae nor Chlamydia trachomatis were demonstrated by culture. In the third patient, a young woman, N. meningitidis was associated with cervicitis, acute salpingitis, and peritonitis. The patients' clinical symptoms responded quickly to antibiotic treatment. Meningococci of the same serogroup/serotype as the index cases were demonstrated in two of the sexual consorts in pharyngeal specimens but not in genitourinary specimens. Orogenital sexual practice seemed to be the most likely route of transmission. During the period of this study (August 1989-March 1990), the three meningococcal strains observed at the authors' laboratory represented 20% of the total number of urogenital isolates of pathogenic Neisseria. A greater awareness of this problem from medical, diagnostic, epidemiologic, and legal viewpoints is therefore needed.